The many colors of Lavender Brown
by RedCloakedMaiden
Summary: Dean was an artist. So, when Professor McGongall called out the name, "Lavender Brown!" he tried to capture her with colors. But out of all his drawings of her, there were five colors he always used. For Cuba's 5 Things Challenge, 150 words a drabble.


**_Lavender_**

* * *

Her name is Lavender. Light purple, pale lilac, blue-purple, lighter than violet, there are so many different ways to describe that exact shade. It's so bright, yet it's subtle. Just like her. She lights up the room with a smile, breaks the tension with her high laugh. She makes everything seem sweeter like the scent itself.

It's such a girlish color too, like pink. Lavender's about as girly as they come, with her pretty clothes and make-up that he notices on her when they are about twelve.

Her eyes are that exact color, he notices when he tries to draw that sweet brightness of her lavender eyes later. Maybe that's why her parents named her that, he muses. It such a rare shade to see, he notices, even in nature. Whatever the reason, he always tries to show how light-hearted, bright and pretty she is by making her eyes lavender.

* * *

_**Red**_

Lavender was in Gryffindor like him. She wore the red and gold badge everyday with her uniform. But Dean wonder why she was in Gryffindor. She was nervous about ghosts, hated creepy and crawly things, terrified of heights, scared to death of mice—there was nothing brave about her at all.

When Dean ever thought to draw her, he left off the badge.

He was surprised to see her sign up and go to every DA meeting; she even helped convince Seamus to come. But she fought then and in the Battle, Lavender fought alongside him, never flinching as spells and rubble were blasted.

When Lavender was in the hospital, she never cried out in pain. Instead she quietly recited every scene of death and pain she had lived in the past year. Every time he drew her afterwards, he included her badge of courage, a gold lion upon red.

* * *

_**Gold**_

Lavender had golden hair, worthy of Rapunzel. It is the color of a lion's skin and mane, and just as rich and thick. It shone, it glistened, it gleamed.

It was not bushy like Hermione; it did not fall past her waist and twisted dramatically, almost orientally like Parvati and her twin sister, Padma, nor be ignored like Ginny, who either left her hair down or pulled back into a pony-tail. She played with it: pony-tails, headbands, ribbons, buns, down, up, braided, half-back.

It took him a long time to realize that her hair was the perfect shade for her. It was not sensible like Hermione or striking as Parvati; fiery red to match Ginny's temperament, or the idealistic image of a princess like Luna Lovegood's with long and wavy light blonde hair to match blue eyes, but it was the color of strength and nobility, the color of gold.

* * *

_**Pink**_

Lavender's skin is as pink as posies or roses or her favorite headband, dotted with little white circles. She loved the color too. Although her name was a shade of purple, pink was quite obviously her favorite and Dean had counted six different shades of pink in her wardrobe in his fourth year. It suited her though. It was girlish, bright, pretty and fun. Sweet, yet flirty.

But when Lavender was mad, her fists clenched, golden skin turned pink around the knuckles. When she smiled soft and sweetly and his heart thumped, pink was in her cheeks, a blush. When Binky the baby rabbit died, when she broke up with Ron or when she first saw her reflection in St. Mungo's, her eyes turned wet and pink, bloodshot and teary. But he loved it most on her when she only wore the color in her clothes: pretty, flirty, light-hearted pink.

* * *

_**Brown**_

"Brown, Lavender!" Professor McGongall had called out the first time he had ever heard her name. He first thought that there was nothing _brown_ about her at all. **_He_** was brown: solid, warm, dependable, patient, protective. Even his skin was that color. While he was dark and warmth akin to that of the dirt and roots, she was the bright flower.

It took him a long time, until he saw Lavender mangled by Greyback, her soft skin ripped apart, her bright hair and eyes dulled. It was then he realized that he was her roots, what kept her grounded and helped her survive.

There was nothing brown about her and it was the only color in his set that he never used to draw her. It wasn't until he saw her holding their first child, hazel skin against her lavender eyes, did he finally draw Lavender with the color brown.


End file.
